PUBLIC POLICY Stainless Steele ’s money man says his government won’t lose sight of balanced budget in its quest for re-election

By Stephen Kimber

“It’s a great day to be a Jets fan,” Graham bring the fiscal state “back to balance” and “I’m not here to make a speech,” he says, Steele beams. It’s shortly before 8 a.m. and better, Graham Steele can’t help but begin easily shifting gears to the matter at hand. – if this is February 24th – we must be at the this morning by crowing that his beloved “I’m here to hear what you have to say.” Holiday Inn in Stellarton. Jets had squeezed past the Tampa But then, of course, he makes a speech; his Steele, Nova Scotia’s finance minister, has Bay Lightning the night before, keeping promised 15-minute Powerpoint presentation come here for a breakfast meeting with the their flickering NHL playoff hopes alive. “to lay the groundwork” stretches into 30. New Glasgow-Pictou County Chamber of Steele, a Winnipeg native, was a hockey- There is a lot to say. Commerce. It’s the sixth of nine “dialogue crazed kid back in the 1970s during the Jets When Nova Scotia’s New Democratic sessions,” 15 “stakeholder meetings” and previous NHL incarnation. When a local Party swept into office in June 2009 – the three community group gatherings he is radio station staged a sports trivia contest in first time the NDP had ever formed any staging as he criss-crosses the province, which the prizes were tickets to upcoming sort of government in Atlantic Canada, asking Nova Scotians for their input in the games, Steele would plant himself by the let alone won a majority – there were great lead-up to his next provincial budget April 3. telephone, surrounded by his collection of expectations, many of them created by party Last night at the hotel, Steele did four local hockey trivia books, and eagerly wait for the leader ’s rosy, read-my-lips, media interviews. Later this morning, on announcer to ask a question. He won so often new-programs-balanced-budget-no-tax- his way to Port Hawkesbury for a luncheon he eventually had to disguise his voice and increases mantra. There were just as many session with the Strait Area Chamber of use other people’s names when he called. trepidations, fueled not only by exactly Commerce, he’ll stop in at CJFX-FM radio in Steele doesn’t mention his trivia prowess those promises but also, in some quarters, Antigonish for a sit-down interview with its this morning, but few among the three by the stunning reality that conservative, news director. dozen local business and community leaders mainstream Nova Scotians had actually Though the real subjects of all these attending would probably be surprised. elected a “socialist” government. sessions are the still-woeful-but-becoming- There is a nerdy, earnest yet cheerful Once in office, however, the new NDP less-so state of the province’s finances obsessiveness to Steele. And he is clearly the government didn’t simply do a 180-degree and the important question of how best to smartest person in any room he is in. turn on the economic promises it had

38 | ATLANTIC BUSINESS MAGAZINE | May/June 2012 PORT OF HALIFAX (N.S.) campaigned on; it threw in a couple of double THOUGH2010 cargo: BORN over AND 9.5 RAISEDmillion metric in Winnipeg tonnes, comprisedout “something primarily of practical” containerized he couldcargo do(seafood, with back flips for good measure. of Scottishnewsprint, immigrant clothing, manufactured parents, Steele goods). says Halifaxtwo handled undergraduate 435,461 TEUs degrees. (twenty-foot Law schoolequivalent – The new government – like new his mostunits) formative in 2010, and experiences has the capacity came duringfor 1.4 million where TEUs. he There could is room follow to hisexpand fascination to a 2.5-million with governments of every stripe these days – his TEUpharmacy-professor capacity if needed. father’s year-long what he calls the “laws of government” – immediately commissioned a consultant’s sabbaticalsMain clients: – to Twenty-oneSwitzerland container when shippinghe was linesseemed call here: an ACL, ideal AFL, fit. China He consideredShipping, CMA schools CGM, report to show how badly the previous in gradeCOSCO, four Eimskip, and North Hanjin, Carolina Hapag Lloyd,in grade K Line, Maersk,in Toronto Melfi, and Mitsui Halifax, OSK, choosing Nirint, NSCSA, Dalhousie NYK, administration had mangled the province’s 11. DiscoveringOceanex, OOCL, a EuropeTMSI, Wallenius where Wilhelmsen,everyone Yangin Minglarge and measure Zim. because “I’d never been finances, creating the mess they were left didn’t speak English and a North Carolina to this part of the country.” His plan, he to clean up and, of course, forcing them to thatFacilities: wasn’t anything Two 70-acre like container terminals “opened as well asadmits, bulk, breakbulk was to andget ro/rohis degreeterminals and with get laydown out, areas capable of handling any type of cargo. By 2012, the Port of Halifax will have seven super post- declare all previous promises null and void. my panamaxeyes to the cranes world,” and deep and berthsencouraged to accommodate his on the his largest way shipsto a successful afloat. career somewhere The consultants obliged, concluding that, love of travel. else. He even did an internship at Blake, if nothing changed, the province was on a HisFuture interest plans: in “The the fundamentals wider world are was in placealso to advanceCassels the & portGraydon, as a key a North powerful American Bay gatewayStreet collision course with reality. By 2012-13, the stokedand weby willa continueWinnipeg to workFree with Press our partnerspaper and stakeholderslaw firm. to see that vision through to the end.” – Michele Peveril, spokesperson, Halifax Port Corporation. annual deficit would be an unsustainable route; he says he “managed to read the But somewhere along the line, he met a $1.5 billion while long-term debt would top whole paper” each day while he folded fellow student, Tilly Pillay, a South African- outPORT at a future-defying OF BELLEDUNE $17 billion. (N.B.) copies for home delivery. born woman whose family had moved to A follow-up report by a blue-ribbon ”I’m not sure I can explain why now,” he Nova Scotia when she was nine. They fell panel2010 cargo:of economic total tonnage experts was 2.15 recommended million metric tonnes,allows comprised with a smile,of bulk butcommodities the young (such Graham as in love and decided to make Halifax home. thecoal, zinc,government wood pellets, commit etc.), liquidto bulkcompletely and project cargo.Steele also became a Young Liberal. Today, he and Pillay – who practices law eliminating its annual deficits by 2012-13 “Somewhere,” he even has a John Turner with the province’s Justice Department – Main clients: NB Power and Xstrata Zinc as well as tenants such as Shaw Resources, S&B Minerals andand Groupe“implement Savoie. tax increases, introduce Youth T-shirt from the party’s June 1984 have two children. significant spending restraint measures and leadership convention. “Nova Scotia,” Steele likes to point out, focusModern more equipment: on economic Eastern growthCanada Stevedores,to achieve one of Belledune’sBut by then, terminal he was operators, on his wayconsistently to Oxford politician-like, “is the place I chose to live.” thisinvests goal.” in new equipment, including reach stackers, 150University tonne capacity for crawler two cranesyears and in high Thatcher- speed But he didn’t choose what he saw as Nova conveyors.The man Premier Darrell Dexter charged era England as a Rhodes Scholar, where Scotia’s peculiar brand of “tribal politics. withFuture playing plans: “ThePaul Belledune “Dr. No” Port Martin Authority to hishas just increasedhis focus the would land available not be next on topolitics or on the with People here voted Liberal or Conservative, genial,terminals optimistic by 100 per cent;Jean there “Regular is now a totalGuy” of 88 acresa partisan available as“P” well but as twoon newloftier terminals. ideas Weabout not because of ideas but because of the way Chretienplan to use was the Grahamnew terminals, Steele. the new modular fabrication“government facility and beand an public anchor affairs.”of the economy in in which their parents voted, and that went northernHe chose New well. Brunswick” – Jenna Doucet, director of marketing,In 1986, Belledune he returned Port Authority. to Canada to figure back generations.”

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Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 39 Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 23 An incident early in his time in Halifax “was about people, about who they knew. 52-member legislature. “There was room for helped cement his aversion both to old-style There wasn’t a single word about ideas. I just ideas in the NDP,” Steele explains, insisting politics and also to the province’s old-line sat there for an hour and said not a single he isn’t “highly partisan, though I can be political parties. To help make law school word.” when I have to.” ends meet, Steele had taken a position as a But as he eventually settled into life in Stephen McNeil chuckles when I quote residence don at the nearby University of Nova Scotia in the early 1990s – Steele had Steele’s words to him. “I apologize for King’s College. One day, the university’s joined Stewart McKelvey, the city’s largest laughing,” Nova Scotia’s Liberal opposition then-president, John Godfrey, invited corporate law firm – he realized he needed leader says. “But Graham was highly partisan Steele (whose time as a Rhodes Scholar had an outlet for his own ideas about government in opposition and he’s just as partisan now given him a certain campus cachet) to the and public policy. He remembers getting that he’s in government.” president’s lodge to chat informally with a flyer in his mailbox one day from his As a corporate lawyer in the early nineties, two of the province’s best known political district’s freshly elected NDP MLA, Robert however, Steele managed to keep his political partisans, former Tory MP George Cooper Chisholm, announcing a party meeting. involvement low key, even lower after he and soon-to-be Liberal MP Mary Clancy. Steele went and, in 1991, joined the NDP. At joined the provincial Workers’ Compensation “The whole conversation,” Steele recalls, the time, the party held just three seats in the Board as an in-house lawyer in 1994. The last thing the Board – which was trying to cleanse its reputation as a refuge for patronage

appointees Job– needed1911-145A was for one of its key staff to be seen as a partisan. Whether you’re bringing electrical File Name 1911-145A Atlantic Business Journal 4.625x7.125 ButLast afterModifi edSteele BW.indd returned to school for his masterPrev. of Users law degree2-6-2012 in2:57 1997, PM he ramped up service to a public arena, a health his political activities, campaigning openly for a successfulClient Sommers NDP candidate during Black clinic, a restaurant or a the party’sBleed breakthroughNone 1998 provincial Trim 4.625” x 7.125” Inks country home... election.Setup In that Liveelection,None the party leapfrogged the ToriesScale to becomeNone the official opposition and Nonecame within one seat of forming a minority government. That opened up new Notes behind-the-scene party jobs, including one as director of research.Fonts & PlacedSteele, Graphics who had completedFonts the course work for his master’s Myriad (Bold, Roman, Italic), Helvetica Neue (53 Extended, 83 Heavy degreeExtended) but not his thesis and had “run out of money,”Links applied. He was hired. winco.tif (Up to Date; Gray; 9635 ppi), generator_greyscale.psd (Up toTwo Date; yearsGray; 251 later, ppi), 30kW-150kW_System_greyscale.psdpopular Halifax MLA (Up to EileenDate; Gray;O’Connell 822 ppi), Sommers_Logo_BW.epsdied of breast cancer, (Up and to Date) Steele won her seat in a bye-election. ...Work with Sommers to be sure your Initially, he admits, “I didn’t like campaigning. I felt like I was bothering project gets the standby power people.” But he soon realized “nothing that happens on the doorstep is personal. Was solution it really needs. the person indifferent? Were they angry? You leave the doorstep with a useful piece • Canada’s best-built generator systems for 75 years of information. Now, it’s one of my favourite • Easy-to-buy Sommers systems from 10 kW parts of the job. There’s no better way to to 2000 kW spend time.” Which is one reason why – after he was Rental units available for immediate service appointed finance minister in 2009 – he • was keen to shake up what he saw as an • Nearby installation, service & parts throughout entrenched pre-budget non-consultation Atlantic Canada consultation process. “The minister would Over 200 systems in stock for expedited lead times receive six or so interest groups, and then • make a few speeches to the larger chambers of commerce and call that consultation,” he explains. “I wanted to do something different.” 707 Malenfant Blvd Steele acknowledges there was resistance Dieppe, NB Canada – “I shouldn’t say that” – from within the 1.800.690.2396 finance department bureaucracy to his idea www.sommersgen.com for broader consultation. But he is quick to Authorized Distributor describe that first year’s road show, during which he met with 19 different groups from Whitney Pier in Cape Breton to Yarmouth

40 | ATLANTIC BUSINESS MAGAZINE | May/June 2012 I didn’t like campaigning. I felt like I was bothering people.” But he soon realized “ “nothing that happens on the doorstep is personal. Was the person indifferent? Were they angry? You leave the doorstep with a useful piece of information. Now, it’s one of my favourite parts of the job. There’s no better way to spend time. and even hosted a province-wide video ” conference session with Acadians, as “the single best, most enjoyable part of my job and the part of which I am proudest. I heard from Shannon School of Business groups that were never heard before instead of the same people all the time. It widened Preparing students to be globally-minded business professionals the democratic process.” Not everyone agrees. Liberal Opposition leader Stephen McNeil, for example, who has spoken to many of the same groups as Steele (he was scheduled to address the New Glasgow- Pictou County Chamber the month after the finance minister) describes Steele’s traveling road show as a “charade,” based from its beginnings on contrived numbers and a false premise designed to lead to a pre-determined conclusion. “It was, ‘Pick your poison. Which programs do you want me to cut? Or which taxes do you want me to increase?’ The government’s real budget plan was set long before most of those consultations took place.” Shannon School of Business Building Even some on the left tend to agree. “We certainly had a serious and engaged exchange with the minister, and various – Opening September 2012 officials within the finance department,” explains Christine Saulnier of the Canadian • Enhanced classroom space Centre for Policy Alternatives, a left-leaning think tank whose “alternate budget” champions targeted spending and a longer • Modern boardrooms time frame to balance the budget. “I think he [Steele] listened, but has framed the problem and the solutions in a way that precludes our • Student study lounge proposals.” Perhaps surprisingly, given initial expectations, business has been happiest • State-of-the-art technological tools with Steele. When the NDP was first elected, allows Valerie Payn, the president of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, “some people were quaking in their boots.” But, she says, business has been generally Practical Experience • Community Focused • Research Driven satisfied with the NDP’s performance so far, particularly with Graham Steele. “Actually, he’s been quite good,” says Payn, who has worked with finance ministers www.cbu.ca from all parties during her 20 years at the

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Energy-efficient & UV window films Chamber. “He consults with us regularly. He UV window films filter 99.9% of all UV rays has his own style, of course. He’s not shy at Protects furniture, floors & artwork from fading Into the wild, all about engaging – and he’s not shy at all at Colorless - Ideal for condominium buildings bluecoming back yonder at you. And you’d better have Professional installation & lifetime warranty Specialists MAy June Xplorenetyour facts.” promises satellite The larger question perhaps is, did the UVUVShield launch will bring internet Solar Window Film serviceconsultations down change to earthany of Steele’s budget Blocks theIntroduc rays… not the view! Ing plans? If you ask Steele to name one new, Halifax: 422-6290 Moncton: 855-0855 innovativeplorenet idea Communicationshe picked up during Inc., the a theToll Free 1-800-6 6“Add”7-8468 Agency consultationWoodstock, process, N.B.-based he demurs. company, “It’s not www.cooltint.com or email: [email protected] about sentcoming ViaSat-1 up with on some its ideaway noaboard one has a MEMBER OF ever heard of,” he tells me. “It’s about giving Canadian Institut X Proton rocket from a site in Kazakhstan Condominium canadien des Institute condominiums N O V A S C O T I A C H A P T E R thispeople past the October.chance to Abe secondheard, to launch be part isof alreadythe process.” planned. Together, these satellites willIt isreportedly also, to be allowfair, aboutfor shapingpreviously the July August septeMber unavailabledebate. speed and bandwidth to rural, remote areas of Canada. For an industry whose business is to comeSuccess up with fresh built ideas, theon agency According to Industry Canada, roughly world really hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years. So we thought it 94“THIS per IS cent THE of THIRD Canadian YEAR ofhouseholds our four-year in was time to come up with a new idea forhonest, the ad agency integrity itself. What if your 2009‘Back hadto accessBalance’ to broadbandprogram,” connectionsSteele tells agency scaled as you needed them? Oneand Hundred experience. & Ten does just that throughhis local terrestrialbusiness audience networks. this But morning, while – and clients enjoy the benefits of our online-based, scalable ad agency. urban“and the centres third wereyear thatwell I’ve served, been remoteback to Through a combination of full-time staff• Condos and a local/global• Oceanfront network, sectionsPictou County of the countryas part wereof our not. pre-budget Today, as we can add top-class professionals to creative• Townhouses • Lakefront muchconsultations.” as 22 per cent of rural households marketing projects of any size. To see how our areThis without year, broadbandin addition connectivityto the face-to-face and unique approach can help you get the most out of thesessions, benefits the it finance provides. department has gone Rick Foster onlineAccording with toan a recentinteractive, study you-be-the-by SANE your marketing budget, call us at 902.982.1410Cell: (902) or 476-8191 Consultingfinance-minister Inc., anwebsite Alberta-based (backtobalance.ca) system visit www.onehundredandten.com. email:[email protected] analysis and network engineering www.rickfoster.ca that allows voters to tinker with everything firm:from lowering“High-speed the HST broadband to cutting paymentslays the foundationto doctors forto increasingincreasing taxesproductivity on the andwealthy stimulating – and see economic instantly development.” the impact on A New Perspective Open to the World theMoreover, province’s thebottom report line. states,By budget “With day, OH&T-0008 ATLANTIC_BUS_MAG_TOP_50.indd 1 12-04-16 3:57betterthe PM site connectedness, had received 575people website have budgetbetter Innovative Ideas Creativity and Talents accesssubmissions. to distant friends and family, more education“The first and year work we options said, ‘let’s and startoften with the Growth and Opportunities International Connections on-demandthe facts,’” Steelenature explains.of broadband “We saidallows to peoplepeople, to‘Look, better this take can’t control go on. of Let’stheir lives, look at tothe work options. and Where’splay according the consensus?’” to their ownThat schedules.”shaped the province’s own plan to eliminate theFrom deficit its in fourhumble years, homewhich isin on ruraltrack Newand whichBrunswick, Steele claimsXplorenet is stillhas broadlybeen quietlysupported cornering by the public. the market The key for questions remote connectivityfor this year, hein saysrecent to hisyears, audience having this purchasedmorning: “Should 100 per we cent continue of the to stickCanadian to the capacityplan? And of what something comes after?”called the Ka band. In Whatan interview comes after, with one the is alsoCBC tempted last fall, to companyask, for Graham CEO JohnSteele, Maduri now Nova said, Scotia’s “By the end of 2012, we’re going to be in a most powerful politician after Darrell Dexter? position to say that 100 per cent of Canada Does he have higher political ambitions, is covered with fast, reliable, high-quality perhaps to be premier himself? His answer broadband.” is quick – and clear. “I know myself and I’m The satellite launch coincided with not capable of political leadership, the kind Xplorenet’s completion of a 4G ground of leadership that articulates a vision and can station near Fort McMurray, Alberta. inspire people,” he tells me later. “My ability “As Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. have is to work in a supporting role to those true shown, the only practical way to get political leaders and help them achieve that real broadband to everyone, regardless Connect your Business Grow your Market Explore your Opportunities vision.” I I of location, is via satellite,” said senior www.novascotiaimmigration.ca vice-presidentWhich is what Bill he’s Macdonald. doing today. “And 4G satelliteStanding is a game-changerin front of his in audience terms of this its Connect with us: abilitymorning to deliverwearing speed a andwireless capacity.” headset microphone, Steele, more professor—Alec Bruce than politician, employs a series of colorful

42 | ATLANTIC BUSINESS MAGAZINE | May/June 2012 16 | ATLANTIC BUSINESS MAGAZINE | January/February 2012 charts and graphs to highlight his own meets a political party’s prospects for re- want, not what they expect from us.” government’s successes at managing election. Nova Scotia’s NDP government The proof will be in the pudding. And the expenditures – there is no mention of his wouldn’t be the first to squander four years icing. own party’s previous election promises – and of belt tightening and budget balancing in an lay out what he sees as the possibilities and orgy of pre-election spending. perils moving forward. Graham Steele is careful when I ask if ON APRIL 2, 2012, the night before Graham Steele’s success can be measured in many that will happen with his government. “It’s Steele was to deliver his budget, Premier ways, not least by the fact he’s managed to an interesting question,” he allows. “And I Darrell Dexter pre-empted his finance increase the province’s HST by two per cent, guess the proof will be in the pudding. But minister with the good news that, starting impose across-the-board budget cuts on I don’t think so.” in July 2014, the province would begin school boards, rein in spending by health He says the fact most Nova Scotians have rolling back the much-loathed two per cent districts and hold most public sector wage bought into his government’s back to balance increase in the HST it had tacked on in increases to one per cent – without provoking plan for the past three years means they 2010. the kind of public outrage one might have “would look dimly on a government that does The next day, Steele formally announced expected. So far, at least. one thing for three years and then changes the province was already doing so well he Graham Steele has, without question, course in the fourth year. You can earn more had been able to lard in some immediate, shaped the debate. respect by being steady, meaning being if modest tax relief. His budget increased At the same time, thanks to a combination steady all the time; thoughtful, meaning non-refundable personal income tax credits, of cutting departmental spending and the thoughtful all the time; and disciplined, hiked the affordable living tax credit, cut the good fortune of continuing low interest meaning being disciplined all the time.” small business tax rate and eliminated the rates, he’s managed to reduce – shades of If his colleagues do become tempted large corporations tax. Steele even slightly Paul Martin – this year’s projected deficit to begin paving everything that moves, reduced a previously announced three per of $390 million to “only” $261 million. The he adds, “all they need to do is remember cent reduction in health care spending. goal continues to be to balance the budget in what happened to the last government in And this year’s projected $211-million 2013-14. Nova Scotia.” That Tory government lost deficit, he said, is still on track to become Which will, of course, just happen to office in spite of attempting to “put icing a $15-million surplus next year. “With coincide with the end of the NDP’s first on everyone’s cake [in the 2009 election]. If continued discipline on the spending front, mandate. that method worked, they would have been some improvements in revenues, and That is the inevitable point where a returned to office with a huge majority. But smart, sensible decisions, we’re on target.” government’s policy of restraint inevitably they weren’t – because that’s not what people Icing with your pudding? | ABM

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